Ones and Zeros

Now that the colder weather is more or less upon us, I’m no longer running outside.  Let’s face it, when it comes to cold weather exercise, I’m a wuss.  So I’ve joined a gym for the next six months.

In addition to the treadmills, which while boring are warm, they also have a pool and I’ve started swimming laps.  I like swimming and at one point in my life I would swim long distances.  In the pool I can keep count of laps for a while, but after ten laps or so I start loosing track.  So, I came up with a system.

I use my sandals to count each ten laps in binary.  Straight up, pointing away from the pool, is zero.  Pointing toward the pool is one.  I count the laps in decimal, and count each ten laps - as one unit - in binary.  That way I keep track of the easy part, and my sandals keep count up to 40 laps or 3000 feet.  If/when I start swimming further, I’ll have to go to base four and point my sandals sideways too.

The Motley Fool website has a funny list of the Top 10 Things to Do While Waiting for the End of the Financial Apocalypse.  Some good quotes, “Take a drink whenever someone says “contained,” “1929,” “subprime,” or “Roubini”.”  Or, “In fact, it’s hard to find a failing CEO without an immense exit package. Why work hard for success when failure is so lucrative?”.

Of course, their real point is that at some time stocks will be oversold and cheap and then it is time to buy.  Some people are buying already, that’s part of the volatility in the markets right now.  The markets still seem a little treacherous right now though.

So, moving on from my last long-winded post on the financial mess, what’s next? Are we heading into a 1930s style Great Depression? And more importantly, is YOUR bank going to fail?

I don’t know what’s next. No one does. But first things first; your bank probably won’t fail. While there are no guarantees, I do know that most banks will not fail,. Even in the ’30s that was true. Plus, deposit insurance was just increased, safeguarding accounts up to $250,000.

As a rough rule of thumb, if your bank wasn’t advertising on a national or major media scale over the last year or two, you’re probably ok. The same organizational motivations that led to large-scale bank ads also led to mortgage-backed securities investments. Many local and regional banks didn’t invest in these securities and aren’t directly affected by current credit market problems.

(more…)

One good thing has come out of the financial mess: an entertaining bit of writing.  See this story from Randall Munroe of XKCD.  I see a future for him in the economic/nerd/adventure genre.